www.myspace.com/montagepopulaire

It’s every bands dream to play Glastonbury right? Doesn’t matter whether you are just taking your first tentative steps in to the music biz or have veteran status, it’s still the biggest and arguably the best festival out there today.  Montage Populaire came very close to playing at this years Glasto after winning themselves a place amongst the last remaining bands battling it out to perform as part of the Emerging Talent competition.  Sadly, they didn’t win, however this is not the end of the road but realistically just the beginning, since their eclectic mix of melodic pop already displays a truck-load of potential as they give a rather enticing nod to the experimental.

Montage Populaire, or Monpop for short, are very raw but that rawness displays their obvious talent.  This is a great thing.  With no huge production to hide behind, their DIY demos offer up a clash that has been described as akin to the result of ingesting a huge record collection in one-sitting and when you break the songs down it’s not far off from the truth.  Pop evolves into post-punk sounds which in turn evolves into something that has blatantly been inspired by the 80’s, all the while taking you on a journey through layered instruments, varying rhythms and artistic beats giving you more than a little something to think about.

True the market in which they exist is rather bustling at present, however Monpop have the hooks to lure you in while comparisons are thrown at them from all directions to ensure their notoriety exists way beyond Southampton. This again is a great thing, especially seeing as Craig David was the last Southampton export to make an impact music wise, and we all know how that ended up (cough, covers artist, cough) Artrocker has already championed this 4 piece extensively, featuring a track in their top 100 songs of 2009 before the band had even released anything.  Actually they still haven’t officially released anything, but it’s on its way in the form of an EP co-produced by Iain Gore (Mystery Jets, Babyshambles, Glasvegas).

So if you like your music infectious and your song-crafting inventive, allow us to inaugurate you to the world of Montage Populaire via this free track they have graciously given us.

Sorrows Well Rehearsed 

Francesca Strange